Chief Architect

Role OverviewWe are seeking a highly accomplished and hands-on Chief Architect to lead the architecture vision and technology strategy for Kissht. This role will drive system design, scalability, reliability, resilience, and innovation across all engineering initiatives — influencing 150+ engineers across multiple squads and serving as the CTO's technical right hand.Key Responsibilities:Technology & Architecture LeadershipDefine and own the enterprise architecture strategy aligned with business growth plans.Design scalable, high-availability, and secure distributed systems with clearly defined SLAs/SLOs and p95/p99 latency targets.Lead architecture for core lending systems (LOS, LMS, underwriting engines, fraud systems, payment integrations).Establish best practices in system design, microservices architecture, API-first design, event-driven systems, and data engineering.Drive modernization initiatives, technical debt reduction, and domain-driven design adoption.Champion resilience patterns (circuit breakers, bulkheads, retry policies, graceful degradation) and chaos engineering practices.Engineering ExcellenceWork closely with Engineering Managers to ensure robust implementation across squads.Conduct architecture reviews, ADR (Architecture Decision Records) governance, and code quality oversight.Define DevOps, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or Pulumi), and cloud infrastructure best practices.Improve system performance, observability (distributed tracing, metrics, logging), and platform reliability.Establish rollback strategies, blue-green/canary deployment patterns, and progressive delivery standards.Cloud, AI & Data StrategyLead AI/ML model infrastructure and integration strategy for lending workflows.Own cloud architecture (AWS and GCP preferred); drive multi-region, multi-AZ design for high availability.Drive data platform architecture including real-time analytics, streaming pipelines, and data warehouse strategy.Define database strategy across SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB, DynamoDB, Redis), including sharding, replication, and data partitioning for high-throughput lending systems.Ensure data security and compliance readiness.FinOps & Cloud Cost OptimizationOwn cloud cost optimization strategy; establish FinOps practices including cost attribution, reserved/spot instance planning, and budget guardrails.Implement cost visibility dashboards and enforce cost-per-transaction accountability across engineering teams.Partner with Finance to forecast infrastructure spend aligned with business growth projections.Regulatory & Security ComplianceEnsure systems comply with RBI/NBFC regulations (if applicable).Establish strong information security and cybersecurity architecture (encryption at rest/in transit, secrets management, zero-trust principles).Oversee DR/BCP planning and implementation with defined RTO/RPO targets.Strategic Partnership with CTOThis role reports to the CTO and acts as the CTO's technical sounding board.Translate business priorities into technology roadmaps with clear milestones and trade-off documentation.Evaluate and recommend new technologies, tools, and frameworks through structured PoC and RFC processes.Represent technology in cross-functional and board-level discussions when required.Team Leadership & MentorshipProvide architectural mentorship and technical guidance across 150+ engineers spanning multiple squads.Build and nurture a high-performing architecture and platform team.Drive a culture of ownership, innovation and technical rigor.Conduct architecture guild sessions, tech talks, and internal knowledge-sharing programs.Experience12+ years of experience in engineering and system architecture.5+ years in a senior architecture leadership role.Proven experience in scaling systems to millions of users/transactions in a high-growth environment.Technical ExpertiseStrong hands-on experience in:Microservices architecture and distributed systems at scaleAPI-first design and API gateway strategiesEvent-driven architecture (Kafka, or similar streaming platforms)Cloud-native systems (containers, serverless, managed services)Deep knowledge of:Database strategy across SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB, DynamoDB, Redis); polyglot persistence, sharding, and replicationCaching strategies (Redis, Memcached) and performance optimizationSecurity architecture (OAuth 2.0, mTLS, secrets management, zero-trust)Resilience engineering (circuit breakers, bulkheads, chaos engineering)Experience with:DevOps & CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, or similar)Containerization & orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm)Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or Pulumi)Observability stack (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/OpenSearch, Jaeger/Zipkin, or similar)FinOps tooling and cloud cost governanceLeadership & Soft SkillsDemonstrated ability to mentor and influence 150+ engineers across multiple teams.Strong stakeholder communication — ability to translate technical trade-offs for business audiences.Experience driving architecture governance (ADRs, RFCs, tech radar).Track record of building high-performing platform/architecture teams.

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